Photo's after dark problems

[Rick50]

These are from a car show in Escondido, CA last night. I used a flash, set the camera in TV mode and shutter at 1/50, also set ISO at 800. With the flash I was hoping I would get some smaller apertures but no. Almost all the pics came in a F/1.4 (35mm lens). This made focusing in the semi dark fun as I got no depth of field. Also because of the lights the color temperatures in the photo's gets wacked pretty good.

I had a good location sitting on the curb about 15 feet away from where the cars got fired up. Except my ears still hurt!

 

[astroNikon]

what kind of camera? on alot of cameras you can go up above 800 ISO and not introduce much noise.

neat dragsters and it looks pretty good for f/1.4

 

[CameraClicker]

I have Canon cameras. It probably states something somewhere in the manual. From experience, the modes for flash are M and P. I don't usually use Tv, but I use Av a lot. Av mode ignores that the flash is turned on. The shutter speed is adjusted for ambient, and the flash fires. It sometimes results in very long shutter speeds. I imagine Tv mode works the same way, setting a very large aperture. In M mode, you have control, and hopefully will choose reasonable values. In P mode the camera is paying attention, and sets suitable values.

I keep a set of ear plugs in each of my camera bags, just for such encounters. I realized I should carry ear plugs when someone was being shot out of a cannon.

 

[Rick50]

Camera is 5D3. Yes, ear plugs will go in the camera bag.I set the camera in Tv mode and set the ISO manually at 800 thinking camera would close down aperture but obviously now I probably should have used Auto ISO. Flash was set in ETTL mode and I backed off one stop in Flash Exposure compensation hoping the flash would charge fast enough (3 shots per second).

What I wanted to do was get the flash to fire on each shot in continuous shooting mode (3 shots per second). The idea here is to capture the exhaust flames. The flames are not continuous even though they appear that way to your eye. But in the thick of the action I spent more time getting the focus right and didn't worry about flash. So not all pics had the flash go off but I did get enough to work. Lots of pics (385) over about 45 minutes. The point here is that a lot happens fast and things don't always go as planned. Next year I'll try something different.

Also it really wants more light so maybe dual flash heads. 1/50 sec was too slow for shutter speed.

 

[Light Guru]

What I wanted to do was get the flash to fire on each shot in continuous shooting mode (3 shots per second).

So not all pics had the flash go off

Sounds like your flash cannot cycle fast enough to keep up with your shutter speed.

 

[CameraClicker]

Probably time to start testing now. If you set flash power at 1/8th, for instance, how many shots can you take before you have to wait? Some flash units accept external batteries, which lets them recharge faster. I would use manual exposure to get the flames, then use flash at part power to light the scene. I wouldn't use auto anything for that sort of situation.
Distance matters too. Some flash units zoom with the lens, and can be zoomed manually as well, which gives extra reach.

 

[Rick50]

I'm using Canon 600EX speedlites. I have set manually before and been able to shoot at 6 frames per second. It's a matter of playing with it to get the proper power level. It also depends on how new your batteries are. It is a trade off as to how much light you get. It will take the longest time to charge the internal capacitor when shooting at full power. As you back down the flash power then the internal capacitor doesn't discharge fully and it will recharge faster.

The proper way to do this is to test it under similar light conditions. Set flash in manual mode and adjust power level till it fires 3 times per second. Then set camera in Tv mode and select a shutter speed for the scene. Here it would be 1/125 sec or so. Then set ISO to AUTO and you get what you get in the end. Since one flash unit is not really enough the camera will set aperture wide open (1.4 on this lens) and push up ISO as needed.

I think that's what I should have done. Preparation is everything...... Once on the scene it is harder to do unless you really are clear about what your doing.